


Ferris Buellerian Attempts to Delay Adulthood

by adorations



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Chicago (City), Dancing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional revelations, Established Relationship, Graduation, John Hughes, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Movie Homage, Museums, Pop Culture, Post-Graduation, Post-Season/Series 04, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:20:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27222616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adorations/pseuds/adorations
Summary: After they graduate from Greendale, Abed, Annie, and Troy celebrate with a roadtrip to Chicago and several movie homages. Most of them John Hughes related.
Relationships: Troy Barnes & Annie Edison & Abed Nadir, Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 5
Kudos: 57





	Ferris Buellerian Attempts to Delay Adulthood

**Author's Note:**

> hi yall!! happy halloween! 
> 
> special thanks to cherie for beta reading this for me and special thanks to the server who was so nice to me as i rambled about this for ... months, and for helping me come up with a few specific references and jokes. this is very self indulgent, so i thank them for listening and helping <3

Abed Nadir laid on his side, slack-jawed and wide-eyed for all to see.

"Abed," Britta said, hovering over his bed, "if you don't get up soon Annie and Troy are going to leave without you."

"Oh no," Abed said weakly, in his best impression of Matthew Broderick. "I'm sick. I'm dizzy and I'm seeing spots."

"Abed, I get this whole trip is meant to be a Ferris Bueller kind of thing, but I think this level of commitment is a bit much," said Jeff.

Abed held out his hands. "C'mon, Jeff, feel my palms. They're cold and clammy."

"No, thanks!" Jeff said, pulling away. "Sorry, Abed. I've got to draw the line somewhere."

"Oh, honey," Shirley said, taking his hands in hers. "Are you sure you're not actually sick?"

"Yep," said Abed. "They're clammy because I licked them. That's the key to faking out the parents. Or the friends from college, in this case."

Shirley dropped his hands in favor of applying hand sanitizer from her bag. "Oh."

"Abed, Annie's got you on a very tight schedule if you want to get to Chicago on time, and I don't want you to face her wrath if you're late."

"It's nice to know that I have such loving, caring friends," he said. "You're all very special people." He stood up. None of them stopped him. When he rose, his blanket fell and revealed that he was already dressed and ready for the day. "I can get up. I have to get up. I'm going on a road trip today to celebrate graduating and to live a fruitful life. I can't miss that."

"Yeah, we know," Jeff said.

Abed turned to him. "You have your health, Jeff. Be thankful."

He exited the blanket fort. "They bought it!" he yelled, even though his study group had followed him out of the fort.

“Glad to hear it,” said Annie from the kitchen. “Good morning.”

Abed scanned her surroundings. "No pancakes, Annie? That's not very [Uncle Buck](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1xMzpiUpfo) of you."

"Abed, for the last time, the pancakes in that movie defy logic," she said. "I cannot make a pancake that big."

"Tell that to John Candy."

"That's part of the whimsy!" Troy said, swooping in and landing a kiss on Abed's cheek. "Good morning."

"Good morning," Abed said. "That's fine, Annie. I thought we might start off a John Hughes vacation with a John Hughes breakfast. But if not, we can just get breakfast on the road."

"Abed," Annie said with a mild, loving roll of her eyes. "I made pancakes. They're just normal sized."

She moved to the side, revealing a stack of perfect pancakes. Abed was on them in a second.

"Yum!" Troy said, moving in and sticking a fork into the stack as a well.

"Well, seems like you guys are off to a smooth start. Five days of this should be really fun," Jeff said sarcastically.

"Yep!" said Troy gleefully.

"We are now that we've got pancakes," Abed said.

"It's gonna be awesome." Troy reached out to do his handshake with Abed and then high-five Annie. "Thanks, Annie."

"Yeah, thanks, Annie. Now we can start on a thematically relevant note," said Abed. "You're not feeling sick at all, are you?"

Annie gave him a wary look. "Um, no."

"That's good, because if you were I would have to tell you it was all in your head. Alright!" Abed finished the last of his breakfast and set the plate down by the sink. "I'd say that's it. Let's get going. Life moves pretty fast–"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, smell the roses and whatever, surely, there's no way this can go wrong," Jeff interrupted.

"You have the keys to the apartment, right?" Annie asked.

"I do," Shirley said sweetly, holding them up for all to see.

"That's perfect," Annie said. "Don't give them to Britta or Jeff."

"Hey!"

"And you have the instructions for the final day?" Abed asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes." Britta said, riffling through the notes Abed had given them. "But Abed, these are really involved–"

"Every step of that is essential," Abed interrupted. "But if you don't want to do it, there's still time for you guys to come with us instead. And if you do, it can be a full study group graduation celebration rather than just our apartment."

"Sorry, can't," said Jeff. "Because I have something you guys don't have, which is a job that pays me."

Shirley raised her hand. "I have a business that needs me. Also, children."

Britta held her hand up as well. "I also have commitments and responsibilities here."

"She means she has no money," Jeff clarified, much to Britta's dismay.

"So you'll follow the instructions?" Abed asked. "Exactly?"

"We'll do our best," Jeff agreed begrudgingly.

"That attitude concerns me."

"They'll be fine," Annie assured him, putting a hand on Abed's shoulder. "We'll be fine. Let's go, I don't want to drive any longer than we have to."

With that, they were waving goodbye and rushing out the door.

“Alright!” Annie said, settling into the car. “Here we go.”

“Cool,” said Troy.

“Cool,” Abed agreed. “Cool, cool, cool.”

* * *

The thing about driving from Greendale to Chicago is that it takes a very long time. But Abed tried to make it interesting enough for a montage, anyways.

“Maybe we can make some prank phone calls,” he said. “Annie, you could disguise your voice and call Jeff an asshole. It’ll be hilarious.”

No response.

“Annie?” Abed leaned forward to investigate the passenger seat.

“I think she’s asleep,” Troy said with his eyes still on the road.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. She got up extra early for those pancakes, so I think she needs it.”

“That makes sense,” said Abed. “They were really good pancakes. I’ll let her sleep, then. We can do prank phone calls later.”

Troy hummed in agreement and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.

Abed fidgeted in his seat. “I’ve never driven this far from home before.”

“Me neither,” Troy admitted. “I’ve flown, but I haven’t actually driven it.”

“Yeah,” said Abed. “Hey, Troy?”

“Yes?”

"Be careful," he said. "If this is anything like [Planes, Trains, and Automobiles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_akwHYMdbsM), we're going to end up driving on the other side of the road at some point and the car will slowly start falling apart throughout our trip. And that's actually a running gag in as [Tommy Boy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1lbpj6868o) as well, which isn't a John Hughes movie but it is about a Midwestern road trip which makes me think that we should be extra concerned about the car falling apart."

"Hey, Abed?" Troy said over his shoulder.

"Yes?"

"I'm not going to drive on the wrong side of the road."

"Oh," said Abed, relieved. He rested his chin on the shoulder of Troy's chair. "Promise?"

"I promise."

"Promise you won't let the car fall apart either?"

"What's happening to the car?" Annie cried, sitting up from her slumber in the passenger seat.

"Nothing!" Troy and Abed chorused.

"Oh," she said. She put her head back down against the window. "Thought you said something."

"Don't worry about it. We're fine."

She was back asleep in seconds.

"I promise to keep this car from falling apart," Troy said in a lower tone, "because if we lost it, I don't know what we'd do. I doubt Annie’s can support 3 people at a time."

Abed nodded. "You're right."

"And," Troy continued, "I promise to keep us safe. Nothing bad will happen while we're driving. Promise."

Abed leaned back in his own seat. "Cool," he said. "Cool, cool, cool. Thank you."

"Of course."

* * *

Just before they reached Iowa, they stopped for the day, choosing to rest in a cheap motel just at the edge of Nebraska.

"Two beds," Annie said when they got into their room. "Gee, I wonder how that'll divide up."

She placed her bag on the right bed and sat next to it. Troy threw himself on the other mattress.

"Aw, c'mon, Ann," he said. "You can lay in our bed while we watch TV if you want to."

"That's alright," she said. "I think I'm going to shower, actually. I feel gross from the driving."

"Not a bad idea," Troy said. "I'll go after you."

Abed nodded. He religiously showered only in the mornings, but he understood why they would want to now. "We are in a motel," he warned, "so be aware of your surroundings. I don't want any Hitchcockian scenarios while we're here."

"Will do."

Annie disappeared into the bathroom with her pajamas and Abed studied Troy. His feet wiggled on the bed and his eyes scanned the room, darting from object to object and quickly becoming reckless.

"You want to watch something?" Troy asked him when his eyes had finally catalogued everything in the room. "Inspector Spacetime? SVU?"

"My dear Constable," Abed said in his best Inspector voice. He put a light hand on his knee. "We've had a long and tiresome journey. And we appear to have arrived on an entirely new planet. I believe some exploring is called for. Care to join me?"

"Yes!" Troy responded, first in his own voice before switching to Reggie and hopping out of bed. "Inspector, do you think there's any risk of... Blorgons?"

"On this planet? Anything is possible," Abed answered.

As it turned out, there were no Blorgons, but they did discover an older man letting his dog out in the field behind the parking lot and a group of teenagers smoking in the back. Abed was glad to see Troy stretch his legs and lose some of his restless energy before they returned to their room.

By that time, Annie had left the bathroom and she laid in her bed with a portable lapdesk, colored pens, and several notebooks and planners.

"Hi," she said, barely looking up. "If you're going to use the shower be careful because the faucet is really touchy."

Troy nodded, noting this information, and left for the bathroom.

Abed sat himself on the edge of the bed, feet firmly planted on the ground. He watched Annie write.

"What are you working on?"

"A lot of things," Annie said, glancing up. "Right now I'm trying to put everything from my school planner and my digital planner and my job hunt agenda into one bullet journal."

"How's that going?"

"So far, it's hard," said Annie. "I'm not sure I have enough corresponding highlighters to match each pen color. Also I'm supposed to be completing at least one journal entry about mindfulness each day to relax, and I haven't done that yet so that's one more thing I have to do today."

Abed tilted his head. "Maybe you could do it in the car?"

"I'll get carsick. Also I wouldn't have steady handwriting." She flipped over a page in one of the notebooks.

Abed rubbed the tips of his toes on the carpet. "Do you have a lot of job interviews when we get back?"

"A few. Well..." Annie said. "I guess it depends."

"Depends on what?"

"If I hear from any before the trip’s over," Annie said after a moment. "But if we don't, I have another interview lined up the afternoon after we get back. So I really need to get this organized now."

Abed hummed and reached for his laptop. If Annie was busy, then maybe he would start an Episode of Inspector Spacetime on his own. Or maybe he’d review some of the Ferris Bueller commentary again. He wanted to be extra prepared when they got to Chicago.

He received a low battery notification immediately after opening it, and dug back into his computer bag for the charger. He came up short.

Abed frowned. He turned the bag over on its side and emptied the contents onto the bed. Headphones, lip balm, small spiral notebook, and few other loose papers — a postcard. His hand lingered on the postcard, but he quickly shoved it all back into the bag. No charger.

He wasn't panicking. Not yet.

"Abed?" Annie questioned.

"I can't find my laptop charger."

"I'm sure it's here somewhere. Did Troy pack it?"

"Troy," Abed said, rushing to the bathroom door and knocking.

"I'll be out in a second!" came Troy's voice through the door.

"Did you pack the laptop charger?" He wasn't panicking. He was just asking. He wasn’t panicking.

"Yeah, I think so? I'm pretty sure I grabbed it. Should be in my bag."

"See?" Annie said. "No worries. It's just in his bag."

Abed rushed to Troy's suitcase and began tearing through it. Sure enough, there was the charger. And right next to it was...

"Hey," Troy said, opening the doorway and appearing with a towel around his waist. "You found it." His eyes dropped to where Abed's hand laid, right next to the charger. "And... that. I was just coming out for that, actually."

"Why do you have a Northwestern shirt?" Abed asked. There was a sick feeling starting to set in inside his stomach, but he couldn't yet explain why.

The shirt wasn’t exceptional. It was bright purple, short-sleeved, and read _Northwestern Wildcats_ on the front. But it had been folded with care and placed inside Troy’s suitcase until this moment, when Abed had brought it out into the light.

"Northwestern?!" Annie exclaimed. "I was waitlisted there! You know... before everything."

"Yeah, I had an offer from them, too," Troy said sheepishly. "To play football. You know, in High School. Before everything."

"Troy, that's crazy! How did I never know this?" Annie said. "They offered you scholarship money and everything?"

"Not that much, but..." Troy trailed off. "A little bit. For football."

"Troy. That's a big deal. It's Northwestern. That's crazy," she continued. "We could've ended up at the same school, even if we never went to Greendale."

Troy waved a hand, as if sensing Abed's discomfort. A frown was beginning to form on Troy’s face as well, which Abed suspected to be completely independent from his own emotions. "Nah, I probably wouldn't have gone there, anyways."

"Why not?" Annie asked. "You were good. Even I knew that. Good enough to get their attention in the first place."

"I had other offers. More realistic offers. Like you said, it's Northwestern. You probably would’ve ended up tutoring me." Troy shifted uncomfortably. "And anyways, I stopped playing for a reason."

"Right," Annie said, remembering and realizing. "Right, of course."

"I've never seen this shirt before," Abed said quietly. "Why'd you bring it? Why now?"

"Just an extra pajama shirt, in case it was too hot for regular pajamas." Troy fanned himself even though he was wearing only a towel around his waist. "And I think I was right."

To his credit, it was rather warm in the motel room, and Abed had been thinking of wearing his own graphic tee to bed. Annie was already stripped down to a tank top and a pair of fuzzy shorts.

"I've seen all your shirts," Abed said. "I didn't even know you had this."

"I never really wore it before," Troy said. "I didn't have a reason to."

"And you do now?"

"Just pajamas," Troy said. Abed squeezed the shirt, not yet ready to pass it to Troy's outstretched hand. "I don't know, we're going to Chicago, so it seemed appropriate. That’s all."

Abed's grip on the shirt softened and he tossed it into Troy's outstretched hands.

"Thanks," Troy said, and he disappeared into the bathroom again.

"Northwestern," Annie murmured. "I can't believe I didn't know that."

Abed was about to echo that sentiment when Troy returned, purple t-shirt on his upper body and boxers on the bottom. He carried the heavy pajamas he had originally planned on changing into and discarded them into his suitcase.

"You found the charger, though," Troy said to Abed, not quite a question.

"Yes." Abed plugged in the computer and placed it on the bedside table.

"Inspector Spacetime?" Troy asked, bouncing onto the bed and gesturing toward the laptop. "Or do they have it on the TV...?"

"Actually," Abed said, "I think I just want to sleep."

He began stripping off his own clothes, and put himself into an oversized Beetlejuice shirt which covered most of his body.

"Okay," Troy said. He wiggled under the covers and patted the empty space next to him for Abed to settle into.

"I'm just going to finish this journal entry," Annie said, scratching away at her diary. "Then I'll get the light?"

"That's fine," Abed said.

He crawled into the space Troy had created for him under the covers and intertwined his legs with Troy's. Troy slotted himself between Abed's arms and Abed squeezed his eyes shut, occasionally running the tip of his nose across the back of his shoulders.

He felt the purple fabric of Troy's shirt balled up in his hands and he closed his eyes tight, trying to shut out the sight of it and waiting for sleep to come.

* * *

The second half of the drive was just long, and Abed was beginning to run out of montage ideas. Luckily, he had picked the perfect driving music.

"Abed!" Annie said as the music shuffled. "This is the 5th time I've heard Come On Eileen _today._ "

"Got it," he said, hitting shuffle again and letting It's The End of The World by R.E.M. play instead. "If we're going to be spending so much time on the road, I want to make the most out of it cinematically. And that starts with the soundtrack."

"Totally fine," Annie said. "I just need some variety."

"Noted."

"Queue Mockingbird!" Troy said with a toothy smile. "."

"I know what you're thinking," Annie said sternly, "and if I hear 'the most annoying sound in the world' for even one second I will turn this car around."

Troy and Abed laughed.

"Alright," Troy promised. "No annoying sounds. But I will be singing along."

Abed queued the song.

* * *

Their Chicago hotel wasn't much nicer than the motel in Nebraska (they needed to be saving money where they could, after all) but the sheer knowledge that they had completed the first portion of their trip made the whole place a little bit better.

"Chicago!" Troy cheered once they had settled in. "The city that never sleeps."

"Um..." Annie started, looking up for her journals.

"That's New York." Abed squeezed the arm that was currently wrapped around Troy's torso. "Windy City."

"The city that's always windy!" Troy said.

"Actually, the nickname comes from politics," said Abed.

"Actually," Annie interjected, "there's some debate over where the nickname came from, but—"

"Okay, fine!" Troy said. "Chicago! The city we're currently in. How 'bout that?"

"That's good," Abed said. "And finally accurate, which is nice."

"You're telling me," Annie said. "I am so sick of driving."

"Hmm," Abed hummed. "Have some more pizza. It's cheese like [Home Alone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RISQc8mptK4). See? More John Hughes."

Annie happily accepted a second slice.

“I’m excited,” Abed said. “I’ve always wanted to know how accurate the movies are. So far it seems nice, but it’s hard to tell from just one hotel.”

Troy shifted in his arms. "You know I've been here before?" he said quietly.

Abed processed this information. "No, I didn't know that. You didn't say anything about that during the vacation planning. Or anytime before. Or while we were driving at all."

"It feels like a lifetime ago." Troy rubbed his eyes. "It was when I was in high school. Evanston, actually. So not really downtown or anything. With my dad."

Abed gripped the fabric of Troy's purple pajama shirt. He was wearing it for the second night in a row.

"College visits?" Annie asked.

Abed swallowed dryly.

"Yep."

"You were seriously considering it," she inferred. "That is still so crazy."

"Yeah," Troy said. "Crazy." He shifted in Abed's arms. "I'm tired from driving, too. Let's sleep now."

"Absolutely," Abed agreed. "You should sleep now. We all should. Big day tomorrow. We'll need our energy."

Abed set the pizza box aside and Troy snuggled up to his chest, sighing. Within minutes, the lights were off, and Abed was squeezing him and drifting off into a fitful sleep.

* * *

Before they could go anywhere, they needed to get into costume. For himself, Abed had planned a leather jacket and printed vest over a white shirt that was almost exact to Ferris Bueller's actual costume.

He admired himself in the bathroom mirror. It had taken several long trips to the thrift store, but he had finally done it. Finally, while nobody was looking and against his better judgement, he grabbed the postcard from his computer bag and shoved it into his jacket pocket.

“Bueller,” he said to his reflection. “Ferris Bueller.”

There. Now he was ready.

Troy was looking rather handsome in his high waisted shorts, blue tank top, and matching fringe jacket and boots combo. Abed had picked them out special, just for Troy. He clicked his heels in the shoes happily. The outfit suited him well, if Abed did say so himself.

As for Annie, some adjustments had to be made. In the movie, Cameron spent the entire day in a Detroit Red Wings jersey. In life, Annie was afraid of dedicated Blackhawks fans yelling at her. So she wore an oversized Blackhawks jersey they had ordered online. It was the same color, anyway, so at a glance, Abed decided it counted.

In terms of activities, the museum scene from Ferris Bueller was essential to the entire movie, Abed maintained. And actual visits to museums were essential for any vacation, as Annie insisted. So their first day included a few more museums than the movie actually portrayed.

Personally, Abed liked the dinosaurs at the Field Museum, and the three of them took a selfie with SUE and tagged the dinosaur's [official Twitter account](https://twitter.com/SUEtheTrex?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor), which was one of the coolest things a person could do, in Abed’s opinion.

The aquarium was right next door. The idea of it initially made Troy upset because, as he put it, _What if the fish get sad because they feel like they should be in the ocean and they can't go there anymore, and what if they had a family and a whole life they were supposed to live in the ocean and now they don't get to live that, and what if they're just wondering if they were supposed to be a different fish and now they'll never know?!_

Abed simply frowned. He had no answer. But Annie, who had done her extensive research, walked him up to the circular tank near the entrance and pointed out a turtle swimming lopsided near the top.

"She got hurt in a boating accident," Annie said. "Their website says she can't swim right anymore. But they take care of Nickel here.." She shrugged. "I don't think that's a bad thing. If she was hurting out there, I bet she's glad to be here."

"Hmm," Troy hummed, still clinging to Abed in the aftershocks of his fit of emotionality. "Why's she called Nickel?"

"The website says they found a nickel in her throat when they rescued her," Annie said. "I think. I'm pretty sure. I read a lot of stuff on that website, okay?"

"Happens to the best of us," Abed said. "I swallowed a coin when I was a kid."

"That definitely does _not_ happen to the best of us," Annie insisted.

"No way, dude," Troy said, ignoring Annie's statement. "Me too. Get out of my brain." They did their handshake. "Mine was a dime though. Super shiny." He looked back into the tank, gazing at Nickel. "Okay. I'm good. Aquarium time."

And he ended up liking the aquarium, all things considered. Abed watched his face light up as he gazed at the fish, making faces at the seahorses, calling out to the beluga whales, cooing with Annie over the sea otters. In one section of the building, there were floor to ceiling tanks and the blue light from the inside of them bounced off of Troy's eyes, his skin, the high points of his face. Whenever possible, Abed positioned himself on the opposite side of a tank as Troy and performed his best impression of , and Troy made a lovely Juliet without even trying.

So, all things considered, Abed liked the aquarium just as much as Troy did. But he _really_ liked the planetarium down the street.

"You're really in your element," Annie commented when they were inside. Abed thought in the back of his mind that she was studying him. He nodded gleefully in response to the question.

"We should go to the planetarium in Denver more," Troy said. "We could make a couple of day trips. If you wanted to see it."

"I've been before," Abed told him. Off of the looks on his and Annie's faces, he nodded to confirm. "My mom brought me there a couple of times when I was little."

He turned toward the exhibit and away from them, so he couldn't see their faces when he continued speaking. He shoved his hand into the pocket with the postcard. "And I went with my dad once when I graduated from high school. I don't know if he really liked it, though. He seemed sad."

"Did you like it?" Troy asked, moving in beside him and linking their arms together.

"Yeah," Abed said. "I did."

Annie made a quiet sound that Abed had trouble identifying the emotion of. Troy held him a little bit tighter.

The highlight of their day of museums, however, was the [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubpRcZNJAnE), because that was the part of the day when they could put their costumes to good use and actually reenact the movie.

Much to Abed's dismay, there were no groups of school children for them to link up with, so when they held hands and formed a human chain, it was just the three of them. There were paintings, though, and a lot of them, several from the movie that they had to see.

"[The Child's Bath](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/111442/the-child-s-bath)," Annie said idly, gazing at the portrait. She clung to Troy's arm. Troy, in turn, held Abed's.

"Baby feet," Troy said. "So little."

"I've been watching the DVD commentary to prepare for the trip," Abed said. "It said they included this painting to advance the theme of Cameron's loneliness. They said it's a representation of the tenderness of a mother's touch, which is exactly what Cameron doesn't have."

"Oh," Annie said, dropping her head on Troy's shoulder.

"Oh," Troy agreed, hiding his face behind Abed and pressing his cheek to his shoulder blade.

Not for the first time that day, Abed felt a lump in his throat. He swallowed it down. "Maybe we should keep moving."

[A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte ](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/27992/a-sunday-on-la-grande-jatte-1884)posed a similar issue.

"Now we stare," Abed said, even though they were surrounded by people who surely wanted them to move out of the way. "We stare at the child in the center until we're looking so closely we can't make out a picture anymore. The closer you look, the less there is."

Troy gave it his best effort, but he either lost his focus or simply couldn't bear it any longer, so his gaze shifted to the hardwood floors and the impressionist paintings on the surrounding walls. Abed felt fairly focused on the painting himself, but in his peripheral, he could see Annie's intense gaze fixed on the painting, unwavering.

He said her name once, testing the waters. When she didn't respond, he reached out his hand to squeeze hers and she broke her gaze, finally looking at him and leaving the painting as Abed led them away.

They explored the rest of the museum, imitating poses from the paintings and exchanging quips and half-assed jokes.

"That's you," Troy said, pointing at a Cubism painting with funny proportions.

"Me?"

"Yes," Troy said. He pointed to the second figure in the painting. "And that's Annie."

"Hey!"

"Okay," Abed said, searching the room. He settled on something abstract across the gallery, reds, pinks, and purples stretched across the canvas. "That's you."

"Really?" Troy looked confused. "Why?"

Abed shrugged. "It's pretty. I like how it looks."

"Ohhh..." he said, something that was half of an embarrassed sound and half loving coo. He nuzzled Abed's shoulder with his cheek. "That's not fair. I was trying to make a joke and you were really sweet."

"Oh. Sorry."

"No, it’s okay," Troy said quickly. "I liked it."

They got separated by the Greek and Roman statues, because Troy got too close to the butt of one of the statues and set off the alarm, which scared him into running off around the corner. Annie was not so easily deterred and stayed to admire a particularly inviting Roman woman.

Luckily, Troy's escape landed him and Abed directly in front of the [Chagall windows](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/109439/america-windows), just in time for the final museum homage.

He reached into his pocket and held out one of his earbuds to Troy, who gladly accepted. He put the other into his own ear.

"Nice [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En1IgPz1jfk)," Troy said when Abed selected it.

"I've been waiting to score the scene, but now seems like the best time for it," said Abed. He smiled. "Kiss me."

Troy obeyed and leaned forward to kiss him without wasting a moment.

"Nice," said Abed when he pulled away. "But I meant in front of the windows. Like Ferris and Sloane."

"Oh." Abed felt Troy's skin flush under his touch. "Whoops."

"It's okay," Abed said, kissing him again. "I liked it."

He took Troy by the hand to bring him closer to the windows.

"They were sitting here." Abed pointed at the ledge in front of the windows.

The moment they sat, a security guard called out to them. "No sitting!"

"I'm sorry!" Troy cried, scrambling up instantly and losing his earbud in the process. Abed returned it to him and frowned.

"Hm," he said. "Movie inaccuracy. Not cool."

"It's okay," Troy said, still shaking a little from the guard's voice but focusing on Abed. "We'll just do the scene standing."

And then his hand was on Abed's chest, and there was nothing else to think about but that point of connection between them. The weight of that hand on his chest, the blue glow from the windows bouncing off Troy's face, welling up in his eyes and trapping in his eyelashes — When did Troy's eyelashes get to be so long? Though Abed's eyes were closed when they finally met in the middle, lips pressed together, he swore he could still feel that blue light.

The whole thing was incredibly cinematic.

After what felt like years and simultaneously no time at all, Troy pulled away, his forehead in perfect position for Abed to press his lips there. "How's that?" he murmured.

"Good," Abed said back to him. "Really good. Almost exact to the movie and good enough to make up for the differences we couldn't control."

"That's good," said Troy. "I'm glad."

"I've always wanted to do that scene." Abed whispered it like a confession, something private even though there were other museum goers and they were definitely blocking the windows for way too long. "I didn't think I'd have anyone to do it with, though."

Troy made the same sound from earlier, an uncontrollable outburst of affection. "I'm really glad I got to do it with you," he managed after a moment.

Abed grinned. "We should find Annie and get going before we're late for the baseball game."

"Right," Troy said, still looking dazed and overcome with emotion. "Right, totally."

The Cubs ended up losing. But that was okay, because the three of them heckled , and Abed bought Annie an overpriced (but adorable) Cubbie plush that she held tight to her chest the whole game, and Troy insisted on kissing him in between each inning, even though Abed told him there were no kiss cams at Wrigley Field.

Abed smiled into each kiss anyway.

The next morning, just before they left the hotel, Annie got a call. She yelped as the phone rang.

"So sorry!" she said, excusing herself as she stepped out into the hall. "I'll be right back."

Troy and Abed shared a look. "What do you think that's about?"

"Hard to say. Maybe Jeff’s finally responding to the prank calls.”

Troy laughed. “Took him long enough.”

“Hey," Abed said, changing the subject. "Sloane doesn't have a lot of in-depth emotional studies of her character."

Troy raised an eyebrow. They had already talked about this before. "Yeah, and that sucks."

"So if something's going on with you," Abed continued, "I want you to know you can talk to me about it. Even if it's not strictly adhering to the movie homage."

Troy shot him a crooked smile. "Going off-script? For me?"

"For this trip to be possible at all, there need to be necessary compromises. And you're worth it." Abed could practically watch Troy heat up at his words.

"I'm fine," Troy said, and before Abed could reply, he was speaking again. "Well, no, I'm not _fine_ , but I am fine. I’m okay. I'm having a really nice time, I'm really glad we did this, I love being here with you guys, I'm just thinking a lot, I guess, and it's weird because I can't stop thinking about this."

"What are you thinking about?" Abed asked slowly.

Troy turned away. "My dad," he admitted.

Abed felt a rush of cold air on his skin. "Oh."

“I’m sure you were starting to figure that out, if you hadn’t already.”

Abed shrugged. “I had my theories.”

"I don't want you to worry about me, though."

"Okay, I won't worry yet," Abed said. He tapped his toes. "What are you thinking about your dad?"

"Just memories," Troy said, and then he shook his head. "No, not just memories. What-ifs, too."

Abed hummed and signaled for more information.

"It's just weird to think that there's, like, an alternate universe Troy that could be living here. Graduating from Northwestern. Well, a Troy that started going to school there, at least."

"You don't think alternate Troy would graduate?"

He shrugged. "I don’t know. I mean, I'm a decent football player, but I'm not that smart."

Abed frowned. He wanted to argue, but the thought of Troy anywhere other than Greendale forced him to stay quiet.

"It's just weird back being here without him," Troy said. "It's weird graduating without him."

Abed considered this. "I was concerned for you because we seemed to be establishing an unintentional theme relating to parental care with an emphasis on father figures and you seemed upset," he explained. "But if you're sure I don't need to be worried yet, then I'll try not to be."

Troy leaned into Abed's arms, burying his head into Abed's chest. "I'll be okay," he said slightly muffled. "But I'm glad you asked."

"Okay," Abed said, a hand on his back. "I am worried about Annie," he said before he could stop himself.

"Me too." Troy pulled away to look him in the eye. "Why are you worried?"

Abed prepared to speak and his throat tightened. He said nothing.

"Okay," Troy said. "I'll go first. I'm worried that she's going to move out. I'm excited she's got all these cool job opportunities and everything, but..." Troy sighed. "What are you thinking? Do you think she's going to move out?"

Abed still didn't say anything, but he squeezed around Troy's shoulders and felt him exhale as he understood.

"We'll be alright," Troy said. "We'll figure it out."

Annie entered the room, eyes so wide she looked like a claymation figure.

"Who was on the phone?" Abed asked her.

"Futurza," Annie said, eyes still wide open. "They offered me a job."

"Woah!" Troy exclaimed. "What is that and where is it?" he asked, voice stilted and stiff.

"It would be an administration job," Annie said, her voice equally as stiff.

"Are you going to take it?"

"I don't know," said Annie. "I told them I'd have to get back to them. It's centered in Greendale, which is… really nice."

Abed felt Troy relax. His own locked knees suddenly softened.

"That's cool!" Troy said. Abed nodded along.

"Yeah, it is," Annie said, relaxing some. "The pay isn't super great, but it's entry level. There's room to grow."

"And you'll save on gas since it's centered in Greendale," Abed said, grasping at straws.

"Yeah," said Annie. "Yeah, actually. It would be kind of perfect. And it could be really, really cool. But I don't know yet. We'll have to wait and see how everything else goes."

"Well, I think this is good news!" Troy said. Abed thought to himself that the statement could be used to reassure any one of them. "Let's celebrate. Happy day."

Abed tried to get a good look at Troy's eyes to see if he was faking. As per Troy's request, he wasn't worrying yet. But he was finding that difficult.

"C'mon," Troy said, taking Abed's hand and squeezing it gently. "Happy day."

* * *

[The Sears Tower](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3FY6R0Kh0s) was no longer called the Sears Tower, as it had been when Ferris Bueller was filmed, but rather—

"The Willis Tower," Abed said, and despite the uncomfortable feeling in his ears that was still plaguing him from the elevator ride, he chuckled to himself. "Diff'rent Strokes."

"I thought Diff'rent Strokes was New York?" Troy said, only half-listening as he stepped out into the Skybox. "Woah."

Annie gave a small squeal and reached her hand out for Troy to grab. Slowly, he led her into the box. "Wow," she said, looking around. "It's beautiful.” Suddenly, she pointed out at the skyline. "That's where we were yesterday!"

"Damn!" Troy agreed. He looked back toward Abed. "You coming?"

Abed glanced at the glass floor of the box. "Not sure yet."

"Okay." Troy extended his hand out to Abed. "You can take my hand if you want to."

Once he had taken a moment to collect himself, Abed did, and he let Troy lead him into the box as well.

"Cool, huh?"

"It actually is kinda peaceful," Annie said, pressing her head to the glass like the movie.

"Anything is peaceful from 1353 feet," Abed chimed in, remembering the line just in time. "There are some real similarities between this Sky Box and Willy Wonka's glass elevator. I'd prefer not to go flying today."

"That's fair." Troy held onto Abed's arm, and he felt a small rush of calm.

When they were back on the ground, Abed held onto that feeling. They weren't visiting the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, so if he was going to reenact , he would have to do it on the street.

Abed held on to the calm Troy brought him and used it to propel him forward.

"You wanna get married?"

Troy's eyes lit up, fully himself for a moment. He sank into character as he recognized the dialogue. "Sure," he said, a perfect Sloane.

"Today?" Abed asked.

"Wait." Troy broke character and was himself again. "Abed, this is a scene from the movie."

"Correct."

"So you're not actually asking me."

"I could be," Abed said. "Yes, it's a scene from the movie, but I love you. You tell me you love me all the time—"

"Because I do!"

"So let's do it," Abed continued. "We love each other. We always knew that we would spend our lives together. So let's get married."

"You guys!" Annie said. Abed whipped his head around to look at her. "You can't get married!"

"Why not?" Troy pouted.

"If you're referring to the law, Annie, I'm already ahead of you. There are ways to make it work."

"That's not what I meant."

"Well, then why not?" Troy asked again. Abed nodded once, doubling the question.

"Why not?" Annie said, sounding worked up. "You guys, you're really young. We're barely graduated."

Abed blinked, taken aback. "If you're trying to reference the movie by opposing this, it's not applicable here."

"We're older than you," Troy added.

"Not by that much," Annie insisted. "You guys, how are you even going to pay for a wedding? You don't have jobs."

Troy shrugged. "We'll get jobs. I'll be done with A/C Repair soon."

"If Jeff ever pays me for that commercial, then technically, I've already been hired," Abed agreed. "And ideally by that point both my social media app and my movies will have taken off."

Troy reached out to Abed to do their handshake. "It'll be awesome."

"Also, you'll have a job by then so you could pitch in if you're really that concerned about it."

Annie's eyes widened and she shook her head slightly. "You know my parents got married right out of college and divorced just a few years later," she said. "Troy, didn't your parents meet at school?"

Troy shifted uncomfortably. "Um, yeah."

"I don't know what they have to do with any of this," said Abed coolly.

"Well, they're divorced, too."

Troy's mouth hung open. Abed raised his arm, sensing that Troy would want it, and wrapped it around his shoulders. He leaned into Abed's touch.

"I mean, look at the three of us," Annie continued, starting to get worked up herself. "I just mean that we're still really young, and how do we even know that we're ready to be making these big life decisions, anyway?! Look at our families, look at... Jeff, and at Britta—"

"What do Jeff and Britta have to do with this?"

"—Even Shirley, and Abed, your mom—"

Abed felt his knees go weak. The postcard in his pocket burned him, even through all his clothes.

"Okay," Troy said, leaning out of Abed's grasp. He reached an arm across his chest as if that would stop the impact. "That's enough."

To her credit, Annie was already recoiling from her own words. "I'm sorry. Abed, I'm sorry, that's not what I meant."

"What did you mean, then?" Troy asked, leaning across Abed to say more. Abed didn't hear what else he had to say, though, because he was already getting up and moving away.

He wasn't sure exactly how long he was standing on the street, but it wasn't too long before Troy was sliding up next to him and grabbing his arm possessively. Annie lingered behind them.

"Hey," Troy said. "Do you still want to go to lunch or would you rather go back to the hotel?"

"Lunch," Abed said without looking at him.

"Alright," Troy said. "Cool." And then he paused, like he was waiting for Abed to chime in with his usual _Cool, cool, cool._ He didn't.

He was fairly certain Annie was trying to work up the courage to say something to him multiple times on the ride over, but she never went through with it. Abed watched out the window and wondered what he would do[ if his dad pulled up in the taxi next to them.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaR__f2mvL0) He wondered if he and Annie would be able to hide on the floor together, pushed up close together while Troy donned a pair of sunglasses. Probably not, since his dad would recognize Troy anyway.

As if reading his mind, Troy pulled out the rabbit's foot keychain they had bought from a rest stop and held it out to Abed. He gave a small, brief smile before rubbing the foot. Troy did the same and passed it to Annie, who rubbed the foot with such vigor Troy had to pull it away from her.

Their reservation was under the name [Abe Froman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZO5wqYUYPg). As planned, Troy referred to him only as the Sausage King of Chicago while in the restaurant, but Abed committed only half-heartedly. It was a mostly silent meal. He ate his food without tasting it.

Halfway through, he excused himself to the restroom.

It wasn't the same restaurant as the movie, and therefore, it wasn't the same bathroom. He knew that. There was no bathroom attendant, no blue trim on the walls, no bowl of mints next to the sink. But it would have to work.

He stared at his reflection. His printed vest fit him well. But it was still a costume.

Against his better judgement, he pulled out the postcard he had been keeping in his pocket.

_Dear Abed,  
Thank you for your kind wishes.  
Marcin is doing well. Thank you for asking.  
Unfortunately, we are moving! By the time you get this, we should be arriving in our new home in Arizona and we'll need some time settling in, so I will not be able to make it to your graduation.  
Congratulations again,_

_Mom_

Abed put the postcard back into his pocket. Just then, the bathroom door opened, exposing Annie.

"This is the men's bathroom," Abed said.

"Yeah, I know," Annie said. "I'm here on purpose."

"You left Troy out there alone."

"Yes, which gives us only a few minutes before he gets bored and/or worried and comes looking for us both, and I really want to talk to you."

Abed pursed his lips. "Okay."

"Okay." Annie took a deep breath. "Abed, I'm really sorry."

"You said that already."

"And I need you to know that I mean it," said Annie. "I didn't mean to bring your family into it. Your mom, I mean. That was way over the line."

"It wasn't really relevant," Abed said quietly.

"Not relevant," Annie agreed. "And I'm sorry to make you think about it while we're supposed to be on vacation."

"You didn't make me think about her," Abed said, and then he leaned forward to wash his hands aggressively. "What you said has no affect on how often I think of her."

"Oh," Annie said over the rush of the water.

"What you did was tell me that you think of me and her as the same. That you think she and I would act the same and that I would treat my spouse and kids the same way that she treated hers because that's all I know. And you essentially said the same thing to Troy about his parents, and I know you know why _that's_ wrong, at the very least."

Annie winced and Abed continued.

"But my mom isn't all I know," he said, flicking water off of his hands and into the sink. "Admittedly, that's one of the first family dynamics I had experience with, but I have my dad, too. I consider our study group to be a found family with its own dysfunctional-yet-loving dynamic. Troy's my family whether we're married or not, and you live with us, so surely you know that we're not like that with each other. We might be young but we know how to be together." He dried his hands roughly. "You live with us, so I thought you would know that, because I considered our apartment to be its own family, as well."

"I do know that," Annie insisted. "I think of you guys like my family, too. You're my best friends. Like my brothers."

"So then why don't you want me to marry him?"

"I didn't say that," Annie said. "I just thought it might be kinda soon, is all."

"We've been dating 3 years. We've perfected living with each other. I know I want to be with him and he tells me he wants to be with me, too. And I trust him. We probably wouldn't be married right away, either. Just engaged for a little while." Abed crossed his arms. "This is all stuff I thought you understood."

"I do understand. I love you guys."

"Well, then why—"

"Because I don't want you to go away already, okay!?" Annie screeched.

Abed stopped.

He tilted his head. "What?"

"You guys are my family," Annie said, tears welling up in her eyes. "And I know eventually we'll all move on and find other places to live, but... I don't want to do that yet."

"That's why you were opposed to me and Troy getting married."

"I'm _not_ opposed to it," Annie insisted. "You think I don't want you guys to be happy? Or that I don't realize how happy you make each other? Of course I do."

"That's what I thought. That's why I was surprised."

"Everything's happening so fast," Annie continued. "Now we have to get.. real jobs, real lives, real... places to live."

"Huh," Abed said. "You're worried about _us_ growing up."

Just then, the door swung open again and Troy walked into the bathroom.

"Abed, are you– Hey, Annie– Woah." Annie turned to face Troy and gave him a full view of her crying face. "What's going on? We're crying in here?"

"We're clearing the air," Abed said. "Annie's crying."

"Troy," Annie said, throwing herself into his arms. "I'm sorry."

"I know," Troy said, arms hovering over her. He looked to Abed in confusion. "What..."

"In an unexpected turn of events," Abed explained, "Annie is worried about us growing up and moving on without her."

"What?" Troy said, looking down at Annie. "Us? Annie, we're going to stay young and awesome forever. Like Peter Pan."

"Or any long running children's show, really," Abed added. He and Troy high-fived.

"I mean, yeah, we're grown ups," Troy continued, "but we're going to keep doing awesome stuff forever. We'll keep making movies and sleeping blanket forts, Annie, don't worry. I mean, you're the one with all the job interviews, not us."

This brought on another wave of tears from Annie and she pressed herself closer to Troy.

Troy looked up at Abed. "Wrong thing to say?"

"Apparently."

"It's not just you two," Annie said. "It's all of us."

Abed's eyes widened as he began to understand. "You're worried about growing up yourself."

"But Annie," Troy said, "you're like, one of the most grown up people I know. More than the real grownups in our group, sometimes."

"Because I had to be," Annie said.

"You felt like you had to fulfill your character type," said Abed. "I get that."

"I put myself through rehab. I started living on my own at _18_ because my parents cut me off. I had to be an adult. But with you guys," Annie continued, "I could just... be myself and not worry so much. Of course I want to be old enough to apply to these types of jobs without lying, or to finally understand the appeal of daytime television. But I don't want to sacrifice everything we had at Greendale to do that."

"Annie, I can't offer a lot of sound advice on this subject, but I would recommend not going to your happy place if you can help it," Abed said. "I've found it doesn't really help these kinds of anxieties."

"I thought you were excited about all this," said Troy. "Your planners are so colorful. They seemed happy."

"I don't know," Annie said, "I just... I'm worried it'll be... boring." She looked to the ground. "That I'll be boring. That my _life_ will be boring."

"That's why you keep scheduling more job interviews," Abed deduced. "You don't want to commit to one thing."

"Well, when you put it that way it sounds—!" She dropped her defensive tone. "Kind of... accurate, actually. Yeah."

"Annie, you've got all the makings of a fan favorite," Abed said. "You're driven, warm, and multidimensional. You have the capability to play either the straight man or the funny man in any given scene, because you have that range. You once locked us all in the study room because of your missing pen. You're not a boring character. The setting doesn’t change that."

"Abed," Annie cooed, and she left Troy's side to put herself into Abed's arms. He accepted her grasp and put his chin on the top of her head.

She wiped her eyes. "And you guys wouldn't care if I stayed in 303? Even if..."

"Please stay," Abed said.

Troy nodded in agreement. "It'll be a little while before we can get married officially. We've got some planning to do."

"Most likely, we'll need to do another roadtrip."

"Right. And even then, it's not like we'll be totally different people, Annie," said Troy. "We'll still be ourselves, just a little bit more awesome in the eyes of the law."

"If you don't have any problems living with us now, I can't imagine you'd have any after, either. Other than that one time we forgot to lock the Dreamatorium door–"

"Don't remind me!"

"–Our living situation has been relatively smooth," Abed continued. “And you're right, maybe eventually, we'll find new places to live–"

"But right now we still need you," Troy said. "We still don't know how to use the iron."

"Or fabric softener."

"Yeah, or that." Troy shrugged. "And we love you. You're our Annie."

"You guys," Annie cooed, finally looking more on the side of gleeful than upset. "Troy, I'm sorry for what I said. You know I'm Team Trobed all the way."

"Is that a reference to Twilight fan culture?" Abed asked.

"It might be," Annie said with a cheeky smile. "But I mean it. I love you guys and I know... I know how you are with each other. I'm really glad you have each other and that I have you. And I never want you guys to think that I feel otherwise."

Troy sniffed – small enough that it was almost imperceptible, but Abed noticed, of course. Troy pulled Annie into another embrace.

"Okay, group hug," he declared.

Abed tilted his head. "Me too?"

"Group hug," Troy insisted, and he pulled Abed in by his vest.

"I think we're doing a good job of sticking to the script without even intending to," Abed said. In the movie though, when Ferris went to monologue in the bathroom, he had narrowly avoided being caught by his father.

Just then, a man walked into the restroom and glanced uncomfortably at their group hug by the sinks.

"You're not my dad," Abed said to the man.

"Okay!" Troy said quickly. "I think we've still got a [parade scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRcv4nokK50) to reenact, am I right? Parade scene? Parade scene? Parade scene?" He pointed at each of them, including himself.

"Yeah," Abed said, keeping an arm around Annie's shoulders. "Let's go."

There was no parade in Chicago that day, or even that week, Von Steuben Day or otherwise. So their version of the parade scene meant that Abed played Danke Shoen and Twist and Shout from his phone while he danced outside by the riverwalk. Eventually, Troy couldn't resist any longer, and he linked arms with Abed to join the dance, at which point Annie of course had to join as well. They didn't attract as large of a crowd as Ferris had, but they have a few tourists stop to take pictures of them, which Abed considered a win.

At one point, their collective dance moves became unmistakably Breakfast-Club-esque, and they reenacted the library dance scene from memory until they collapsed on one of the benches facing the river, exhausted.

"Success," Abed said through deep breaths.

"You had some good moves there, Annie," Troy said, smiling.

Annie blushed. "Oh, I don't know about that. You're the dancer, not me."

"I don't know, it looked like you knew what you were doing to me." He turned to Abed. "Don't think you went unnoticed, either. You guys have got some surprise moves."

Abed shrugged. "I was just doing stuff from The Breakfast Club."

"Yeah, I noticed." Troy sat up straighter. "You know, I was kind of surprised you didn't plan more Breakfast Club stuff for us while we're up here."

Abed hummed noncommittally. He watched the river flow past them.

"Yeah," said Annie. "I thought it was your favorite."

"Oh, it's definitely one of my all-time favorite movies. It makes me think of the study group, too."

He blinked and looked back at them. They were watching him closely.

"So..." Annie started. "You really didn't want to see anything from it while we're here?"

"The movie's ultimately about the fleeting nature of the relationships they form," Abed said. "Even the characters agree they probably won't talk again after that day." He looked back out at the river. "That wasn't what I wanted to plan for our graduation trip."

Troy stretched an arm behind Abed's back and rubbed his shoulders, his hand slowly moving upward to thread his fingers through Abed's hair.

"Abed," Annie said. "I'm really glad we did this."

Troy nodded in agreement, and Abed hummed, closing his eyes to take in the sound of the river and the feeling of Troy's fingers against his scalp.

"Yeah," he said eventually. "Me too."

* * *

They left the Chicago hotel early the next morning, early enough that Abed's eyes were still bleary with sleep and stinging by the time they got in the car. Troy drove them away and Abed found himself dozing off in the backseat with his head pressed against the window.

Sometime later (Abed wasn't exactly sure how long, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes), Annie's voice tore him from his rest.

"Troy, where are you going? This map says you should've gone the other way."

"Quick detour," said Troy's voice.

"Troy, what?"

Abed pried his eyes open. "Don't go to Northwestern."

An awkward pause.

"I'm not going there," Troy said softly. "Don't worry. Just go back to sleep. I'll wake you when we're there."

Abed pursed his lips, closed his eyes, and put his head back down.

"This detour better not add an extra day to the trip," he heard Annie say.

"It won't," Troy responded. "It's a surprise. Mostly for Abed."

Annie gave a small hum and paused. "Why did he think you were going to Northwestern?" she asked after a moment.

Troy didn't answer.

When the car finally stopped moving and there was no longer a quiet buzzing to lull him to sleep, Abed sat up to look out the window. He knew where he was within an instant.

He quickly got out of the car without a word and spun in place, taking in the sights of the parking lot.

"Do you recognize it?" Troy asked, leaving the car as well.

Abed left a lump in his throat. "Do I recognize it?" He swallowed forcibly. "Of course I recognize it. You... you..."

"I know what you said," Troy explained, "but I still thought you should see it. Please don't be mad."

"Mad?" Abed said, still at a loss for words.

"Guys," Annie said. "Not to interrupt or anything, but why are we at a police station? It doesn't seem very..."

"It wasn't always a police station," Abed said. "It used to be a high school. This is where they filmed The Breakfast Club." If his voice cracked on the last word, well, no one had to know.

"Oh my _God_ , Troy!"

"I could've brought my Bender costume," Abed said.

"I'm sorry if you're mad," Troy said, starting to ramble. "I know you said we weren't going to do Breakfast Club, but I didn't know when we've get the chance to come out to Chicago again and I kept thinking about what a big deal it would be to you, but now that we're here I'm thinking it was a bad idea, because if you really wanted to we could've just added it to our schedule, so it's okay if you are mad–"

"Troy," Abed said, and before he could think of anything else to say, he kissed him.

After a moment, Abed pulled away and rested his forehead against Troy's.

"You like it?" Troy whispered.

"I love it," Abed whispered back. "You planned this for me."

"This whole trip was your idea. And you did it for us," Troy said.

"It was for me, too," Abed insisted. "The ultimate John Hughes trip. At least part of it was a little selfish."

"Yeah, but there's a lot that was unselfish, too. So this is for you."

Abed beamed down at him, and then returned to his spinning and reviewing his surroundings.

Annie pointed at the nearby field. "You wanna do the fist pump? I'll film it."

"Yes," Abed said breathlessly, and he was running out to the field before he knew it.

They filmed the iconic fist pump scene once, twice, and then a third time just for safety. After that, Abed stood in the field with his fist still in the air, a perfect freeze-frame, his eyes fixed on the horizon.

He heard Troy walking up beside him before he felt his arm snake around his back. Abed lowered his fist to rest around Troy's shoulders.

"It looks good," Troy said. "The homage and you."

Abed rubbed his shoulder warmly.

"I think we should talk about what you said in the car," Troy continued.

Abed's heart rate quickened. "Is Annie still filming?"

"Possibly, but she's far enough away that it's not picking up any sound. And she knows that we're talking but she's pretending not to be interested."

They each glanced over their shoulders at Annie across the field, who looked away the moment they made eye contact, pretending to be enamored by the clouds.

"Abed, why did you think I was going to Northwestern? Why would I take us there?"

"I was half asleep," Abed insisted. "Basically dreaming."

Troy looked at him. "Abed."

Of course. Abed knew he couldn't get away with half-truths. They knew each other too well.

"And while I was disoriented," he continued, "I was thinking about your shirt."

"The Northwestern shirt?"

"The Northwestern shirt," Abed confirmed. "You and Annie had lots of opportunities before you came to Greendale. I was..." Abed rubbed his foot against the ground until his words came back to him. "The trip seemed to be bringing up old memories of your family and your life before Greendale and I was worried you missed it and you would want to go back. I know you said not to worry but I can't always control it. Please don't be mad."

He stared at his feet until he couldn't look at them any longer, and he switched to staring at the clouds.

"I'm not mad," Troy said, "Abed, I don't want to go back. I _can't_ go back."

"Just because you can't go back to it doesn't mean you don't regret it," Abed said quietly.

"Abed," Troy started, sounding more serious than Abed had heard him in a long time. "I'm really, really happy I went to Greendale. I... lost my scholarships on purpose. You know that."

"Sometimes when I think about my mom," Abed said, "I think about your parents, too. And I think you do, too."

Troy bit his lip and nodded.

"I don't want you to have to deal with that," Abed concluded. "Because it's not easy. You shouldn't have to deal with that."

"Okay," Troy started slowly. "Yeah, I think about my parents sometimes, and I think about the school, but I wouldn't have been happy," Troy said slowly. "I'd still be some jerk thinking he's better than everyone else and pretending to be someone he isn't. And I'm not smart enough for half those schools, anyways. It wouldn't have gone well."

"You keep saying that," Abed said, mildly frustrated. "You keep saying you're not smart when you are. You're the Air Conditioning Messiah. You figured out how Dodgeball was going to end before I did. You're having this conversation with me and making sure it makes sense."

Troy's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "Huh."

"You're smart even though you keep saying you aren't," Abed said softly. "And you could've gone anywhere else and you'd still have your family and I'm sorry for that."

"If I hadn't gone to Greendale, I wouldn't have met you. Nothing is worth that." Troy squeezed Abed's arm.

"But–"

"Nothing. Abed, you're my family. Annie's my family. The _study group_ is my family," he insisted. "If I hadn't lost my football scholarship when I did..." He shook his head. "I would've left one way or the other. And I'm lucky things happened the way they did because it brought me to you."

Abed, at a loss for words, pressed their foreheads together again.

"I don’t regret it. And I'm not leaving you," Troy murmured. "Not now, not ever."

"Alright," Abed whispered back. "Okay."

"Hey!" Annie called out from the distance. "Clearly something's going on, but I don't know if I'm supposed to be filming it or not."

Abed grabbed Troy's hand. "We can end it now," he called back. "Let's keep going."

* * *

Troy resurfaced from the motel pool and gasped for air. "Did I win?"

Abed simply looked to the left, where Annie was still underwater.

"Damn!"

Annie emerged, holding her nose and looking around eagerly. "Did I win?"

"By a long shot," Abed said, earning him a light shove from Troy.

"Whatever!" said Troy. "I bet you can't do a handstand as good as me."

He flipped down under the water and only one foot popped out above him, flailing in the air at an odd angle.

"That's nothing!" Annie said, flinging herself into a handstand. Abed, who hated getting water in his ears elected to watch them rather than to participate. His head was the only one above water when someone's phone went off.

"Annie," he said, recognizing the text tone. "You got a notification."

Annie made a sound of appreciation and hurried out of the pool, dried herself off and checked her phone. She tapped it a few times and stared for a few moments before suddenly letting out a yell and dropping her phone in a panic.

"What is it?!" Troy matching her nerves. "Did a celebrity die?"

"Did they release the new Spiderman trailer?"

But Annie said nothing, just stared straight ahead in a state of perpetual panic.

"Uh oh," said Abed, getting out of the pool himself. "She's going [berserk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhoeIKr6tdo)."

"Berserk?!"

"Cameron behavior," Abed explained. "My fault. I should've seen this coming, we were getting to the end of the narrative." He picked up her phone and had a sudden realization. "Quick, get her away from the pool!"

Troy quickly stepped in between Annie and the water. "What's going on?"

"I'm not exactly sure yet," Abed said, searching Annie's frozen expression. "But I think we should go back up to the room."

Troy nodded and threw a towel over his shoulders before gathering his things and following the other two.

Annie didn't talk when they arrived in their room, when Troy suggested a shower to get the chlorine off her body, or when Abed handed her a pair of pajamas. It sounded like she was fairly quiet in the shower as well – no secret crying. Not that Abed was trying to listen, but his mind kept replaying the shot of Cameron falling into the pool, and Abed would rather be safe than sorry, so he sat on the ground with his back against the bathroom door.

The floor was uncomfortable and the carpet was scratchy when he rubbed his feet against it, but he couldn't seem to stop. Troy, who was seated on the bed, reached out his own foot and batted it against Abed's. It worked, but not for very long.

When the door opened behind Abed and jolted him back into the scene, Annie had relaxed some, but there was still a wide-eyed shock on her face and she slowly sat on the bed and faced them.

"Annie?" Abed said, standing immediately.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi," Troy said back. "What's going on?"

"Well," Annie said with a deep breath, "I got offered an administration position at a hospital. Like, a real one."

"Annie!" Troy reached his hand out for a high-five. "That's awesome!"

"The hospital," she continued, "is in Denver."

"Oh," said Troy.

"Oh." Abed sat back down.

"I never thought they'd even _consider_ me," Annie explained. "It's... it's _real_. Even when I was interviewing, I thought for sure they were looking for someone else. I was just trying to... go big or go home, right?"

"Well, you're really smart, Annie, of course they want you," Troy said in a measured voice.

Annie bit her lip and looked at Abed. Abed managed eye contact for a few precious moments.

"This sounds like a huge opportunity, Annie," he said.

"Right? I mean, I'd be stupid not to take it." She looked out at their faces and gestured when they said nothing. "Right?!"

"I don't think I can answer this and be impartial," said Abed.

"Annie," Troy said, now pacing the room. "Do you actually want it? Because if you do, then yeah, of course I think you should take it..."

On the floor, Abed tensed, but he knew Troy was right.

"...But weren't you just saying you weren't really ready for this stuff?" Troy shrugged and then seemed to shrink in on himself. "I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong."

"I don't feel ready," she said in a small voice, "but how do you ever know if you feel ready?"

"Maybe you don't ever know," Abed said. "Maybe that's something you have to decide for yourself."

"Maybe you just have to know what you want," Troy added, "and do whatever it means to get there."

"I want..." She squeezed her eyes shut. "I want... to be in Greendale. For now, at least. I want to be with you guys." She smiled meekly. "But I guess we already knew that, huh?"

"Yeah," Troy said with a lopsided smile. "But we get it if you have to go to Denver, Annie. Don’t worry about us."

"No," she said. "I mean, I want it more than the job. I mean, hospital administration? That's not worth moving away for. Not right now."

Troy bowed his head, and despite everything, he laughed out of pure joy.

"I'll make it official," Annie said, laughing along. "I'll accept the job with Futurza. That's what I want. I just have to make it official."

Abed, now standing, felt his arms twitch at his sides, like they had made up their mind before he had. And before he could talk himself out of it, he was following their lead as they wrapped around Annie's torso.

"Abed," she said, her voice soft and almost surprised.

"It would've been okay if you went to Denver. Eventually. It would've been okay if that's what you needed." His head ended up over her shoulder, so he couldn't see her face or Troy's, which he was suddenly grateful for. "But I'm really glad you're staying with us."

She wrapped her arms around him, slowly at first, just grazing him before closing in and squeezing with all her strength.

"Yeah," she said. "I am, too."

"Okay, are we forgetting anything?" Annie said in the motel parking lot the next morning. "Any more emotional breakthroughs or breakdowns we need to have before we go home?"

"Don't think so!" Troy said gleefully. He reached for the car door.

Abed paused. He was pretty sure she was joking, but it had set his gears in motion. Suddenly, he felt an animated light bulb go off above his head. "Wait. We have to kill the car," he said quickly.

"Dude, no!" Troy exclaimed. "We need the car to go places! Annie's will _not_ support us."

"Hey!"

"Metaphorically," Abed amended. "We need to kill the car."

Annie tilted her head. "I'm not following."

"[Cameron killed his dad's car](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR-3o7BxUao) at the end of Ferris Bueller. Technically, it was an accident, but that's what sets him free. As for us, we're basically there already. We just haven't physically killed anything yet." He trotted over to a nearby tree. "There's no cliff, so we can just leave everything here."

"Abed, what?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the postcard. "This is from my mom," he told them. He didn't have to look at their faces for very long to know they were concerned. "She lives in Arizona now. I've been holding onto this, but I don't need it now." He placed it at the base of the tree and looked at the others expectantly.

Troy slowly opened the trunk and rummaged through his bag before pulling out the Northwestern shirt. "I brought this shirt because it made me think of my dad," he said, "just like being in Chicago did. When I still played football I spent a lot of time thinking about that school and worrying if I was smart enough. Or good enough. Or if I was letting everyone down. But that's not what's important now." He placed the shirt next to the postcard. "I don't need this."

They looked at Annie, who had already dug out one of her multiple planners. "Okay," she started. "It feels weird to get rid of perfectly good stationary, but this is filled with plans for job interviews. Stuff that was really stressing me out. And I don't need it anymore." She set it down to join Troy and Abed's objects. "Did I do that right?"

Abed nodded. "Absolutely. That should be narratively satisfying for the audience. Not as satisfying as if we had broken a giant glass window, but satisfying nonetheless." He looked at them both, already feeling lighter. "Let's go home. For real this time."

Annie nodded, and she pulled them both into a group hug before getting into the car. Abed held them close for as long as they let him.

* * *

The drive back home was still long, even with their main narrative catharsis behind them.

"It's weird," Troy said at one point. "Going home. It feels like everything's changed."

"I need to play a song," Abed realized suddenly, and he reached for the phone connected to the aux.

"What's up?" Annie asked, her eyes not leaving the road.

"The actual road trip portion of this vacation is almost over," Abed said, "and there's still one very important road trip scene we haven't done."

He selected his song, set down the phone, and Tiny Dancer began to play over the car's speakers.

"[Almost Famous](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHH3FoJUEbg)!" Annie said excitedly.

"Exactly." Abed remained leaning forward, in between Troy and Annie's seats. "Now sing along."

 _Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man,_ Annie and Abed sang back and forth, freely, but somewhat off-key.

"I'm pretty sure I only know the chorus," Troy said in a faux whisper. "Why isn't he there yet?"

"He really takes his time with it," Abed explained. "They cut the song short in the movie, and even then, it still takes a pretty long time to get there."

Troy groaned, but Abed had a sneaking suspicion he wasn't actually so upset.

_But oh, how it feels so real, Lying here with no one near, Only you, and you can hear me..._

The chorus finally hit, and while Troy opened his mouth to sing, he closed it immediately, eyes watering. He tried again to speak, likely, Abed thought, to recite the line from Almost Famous. _I need to go home._ But he failed to say or sing anything, he just stared at Abed with that wide-eyed gaze Abed loved so much.

"I know," Abed told him. He felt it, too.

Troy hadn't said the line, but Abed continued with Penny Lane's corresponding dialogue anyway. "You are home." He put one hand on Troy's shoulder and the other on Annie's. "You are home."

* * *

When they finally got back to Greendale, Annie dropped them off a few blocks away, right on time and according to plan.

"[I had a really nice time this weekend](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSXbFu3j5eQ)," Troy said when it was just the two of them on the sidewalk, holding the ends of Abed's fingers in his hands. It was almost in character, with just a hint of Troy's true smile breaking through.

Abed took another moment to look him up and down, Troy in his costume, Troy in that white jacket and those short shorts that made Abed want to grab at him if he looked at them for too long. "Yeah, it was pretty cool."

Troy's smile changed. For a brief moment, he was entirely Sloane. "You knew what you were doing when you woke up this morning, didn't you?"

"Me? Nah."

"Do you think Annie's going to be okay?" Troy said. "I'm pretty sure that's what comes next in the scene, but... I actually want to know."

"You're a little out of order," said Abed, "but it's okay. I want to know too. But I think she is." He smiled lightly. "She is. We all are."

"He's going to marry me," Troy said, placing his hands onto Abed's chest.

"Yeah," said Abed. "He is."

Abed allowed himself a moment to pause time and look at Troy. Troy, his boyfriend. Troy, his family.

"I'd make it official right now," Abed said, "but I don't have a ring for you. Not with me."

"That's okay," said Troy, stepping even closer, further into Abed's grasp. "I love you so much."

"I love you," Abed said, otherwise difficult words coming out soft and smooth, the way they always did with Troy. "Before, I never thought that— I mean, marriage was... And then you..."

"I know," Troy said soothingly. "It's okay. It's alright. I know. With everything with my parents, I also just..." He exhaled sharply. "I know. Me too."

He cupped Troy's face, took a deep breath, and continued with the scene. He lowered his hand to Troy's wrist and turned it over, exposing his watch.

"Oh shit," he said, pretending to realize for the first time. "I have to go." Abed scampered away. "I'll call you tonight!"

"I love you!" Troy called after him.

"I love you, too!" Abed yelled back as he reached the neighbor's fence. He meant it.

He did his best to hop the fence and ended up falling to the ground. No sweat. As long as he made it back to the apartment on time. That was the important thing.

There were no steaks for him to steal or sunbathing women for him to shake hands with, but there were plenty of hedges and lawns to run through before he finally made it up the stairs of their apartment building.

As instructed, Shirley was waiting for him by the door. "I gotcha, Abed," she said in a sing-song voice.

"Shirley, try to be more menacing."

"I gotcha, Abed," she said, deeper this time.

"That's perfect."

"I'd prefer not to recite some of the _unfortunate_ phrasing you left me in the script," Shirley said. "But in a nutshell, I've got you."

"Fair enough," Abed said, still feigning terror at the sight of her.

Just then, Britta opened the door, right on cue. "Abed. There you are. We've been worried sick about you," she said stiffly as she recalled her scripted lines.

"Britta," he said. "Did you get arrested and meet a hot guy at the police station while we were gone?"

She shook her head. "Sorry, bud. I'm afraid not."

"Don't worry. There's still time."

Britta nodded solemnly. "Thank you. Now I want you to get inside and get in bed."

Abed nodded and walked inside, rushing into his blanket fort.

He had asked them to turn on the recording of his snores and position a mannequin in the bottom bunk before he returned home, and they had not failed him. The mannequin was in perfect position for him to shove it onto the ground, and the recording primed to be turned off immediately.

"Oh, gee," came Jeff's voice from outside the fort. "I guess I better check on Abed."

When he pushed back the walls of the blanket fort, everyone else entered with him, Annie and Troy included.

"Hey, Abed," he said. "How're ya feeling?"

"150% better," Abed said. He laid his head back against the pillow. "Chicka chick-kah."

Troy climbed into the bottom bunk next to Abed. "I am _so_ tired."

"Ugh," said Annie, suppressing a yawn. "Same."

"It's good to see you guys, too," said Jeff.

"I take it the trip went well, then?" Shirley asked.

"No disasters?" Britta added.

"Nothing that wasn't relevant to the plot," said Abed.

"Well, I hope it was worth it," Jeff said.

Troy nodded. "It was."

"I'm glad we went," Annie said.

Abed stretched one arm out around Troy and the other up to cushion his head. "Me too. Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Ideally, then, there would be freeze-frame on his face with a really good song playing, but it was okay that there wasn't Abed decided. He had a room full of his family and a fiancé in his arms, and that was more than enough.

* * *

"You're still here?" Abed said into the empty hallway of apartment 303, weeks later. He had a bathrobe draped loosely over his body and a ring on his finger. "It's over. Go home."

"Who're you talking to?" Troy's voice said from the other room.

"The audience!" Abed called back.

"What?" Annie yelled.

"It's a [post credits scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRJ38y4Jn6k)!" Abed yelled.

He padded back across the floor to join them in the other room. Before he did, he gave one final look down the hall. "Go," he told the viewers.

He couldn't help himself. He smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks yall! chicka-chickahhhh


End file.
